Former union minister and Congress leader Anand Sharma on Saturday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party's move to dub the Land Acquisition Bill prepared by the former UPA regime in 2013 as anti-farmer initiative reflected the hypocrisy of the ruling party at the Centre.
Sharma said the Land Acquisition Bill was prepared by the former UPA government after detailed consultation with all the states and political parties, including that of the BJP.
"And, today, they are saying that it is anti-farmer then either they were acting against the interest of the farmers then or it is only political expediency and hypocrisy. And I will say that the latter is the case," Sharma said.
"We are informing the people of this country (about) the anti-people, the anti-farmer, policies of this government. It's not only the move to change the 2013 Act which reflected the national consensus it was not out of the blue that the Parliament passed the Land Acquisition Rehabilitation Law," he added.
Asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre is committed to the welfare of farming community, Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu earlier in the day alleged that the Congress Party is hurting the interests of the farmers, by opposing the Land Acquisition Ordinance.
"Unnecessarily, Congress is trying to create an issue out of a non-issue and they are really hurting the interests of the farmers by opposing this ordinance. They are saying anti-democratic, what is anti-democratic? 123 of the Constitution provide power to the government to issue Ordinance. In the Congress regime, 452 ordinances were issued. During Smt. Indira Gandhi period, nearly 77 ordinances were issued. During the Left-support united front regime another 77 ordinances were issued," said Naidu.
"When you use ordinance, it's democratic, it's constitutional, [but] if our government necessitated by circumstances to bring up ordinances it is anti-development, it is unconstitutional and undemocratic. This is double standard and opportunistic politics," he added.
Naidu appealed to the other political parties not to fall into the trap of the Congress because they are determined to oppose the government for the sake of opposition.
He claimed that the government has re-issued the Fair Compensation, Rehabilitation Land Act.
"This was necessitated as it was approved in the Lok Sabha, [but] could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha.... Keeping that in mind, keeping the interests of the farmers and larger interests of the country the cabinet decided to promulgate an ordinance extending the present ordinance including the nine amendments moved in the Lok Sabha which were approved by the Parliament," said Naidu.
"The Lok Sabha has approved this Ordinance with an overwhelming majority, three-fourth of the members have supported, the Congress and Communists for their own political reasons have opposed it ultimately which was approved by the Parliament," he added.
Reiterating the government's commitment to the welfare of the farmers, Naidu said that a lot of disinformation is going on against this act.
"We want to accelerate growth so that jobs can be created. Rural people also should feel they are the part of the developmental process and they are also able to get the fruits of development, keeping that in mind, the acquisition of land is necessary in certain cases. We made lot of improvements in the previous act," he added.
The Land Acquisition Ordinance, which the Centre could not get converted into a legislation in the Rajya Sabha due to stiff opposition, was on Friday re-promulgated.
President Pranab Mukherjee signed the Ordinance as recommended by the Union Cabinet on March 31.
The earlier Ordinance is to lapse on Saturday as it has not been converted into a legislation during the first part of the Budget Session as required under the Constitution.
The fresh Ordinance, which is the 11th by the NDA Government, incorporates nine amendments that were part of the bill passed in Lok Sabha last month.
It is pending before the Rajya Sabha where the ruling NDA coalition lacks the numbers to get it passed.
